In the mountainous areas of Thanh Hoa, the model of planting thieu pea trees as host trees to collect red ant wings gives an income ten times more than that of afforestation, but the people are not interested.
Interest dozens of times planting acacia
According to statistics, Thanh Hoa has nearly 1,000 species of medicinal plants such as: trichromats, mulberry, tuberose, white mulberry, cinnamon, hi thiem, saffron, tomato thorn, ha thu o, saffron, gao Ancient lam, ivy, mint, mint … In which, there are about 20 species of valuable medicinal herbs. Medicinal species are mainly concentrated in 11 mountainous districts with many endemic species. 
Growing red peas to raise red ant wings gives economic efficiency dozens of times more than planting acacia. Photo: Vo Dung. In fact, growing medicinal plants brings high economic efficiency, many localities and units in the province have implemented projects and solutions to conserve and develop medicinal plants sustainably, step by step. forming raw material areas for processing. However, the development of medicinal plants in the province is still not commensurate with the potential. For decades, the people of Muong Lat district (Thanh Hoa) have raised red ant wings and harvested plastic. All products are currently purchased by a company in Hanoi. The effect of raising red ant wings on the host tree is obvious, but what makes many people wonder is that the area of red ants farming in the Thanh area is still too small. Mr. Luong Thanh Binh in Zone 3, town of Muong Lat currently has 1 hectare of thyme tree that flies red ants to exploit for resin. According to Mr. Binh, ant wings released on thieu pea trees can be harvested from 2 to 2.5 tons of resin / ha / year. With the purchase price of a unit in Hanoi committed at present, farmers can earn from 80-100 million VND / ha / year on average. According to Mr. Binh, on the border land that is both sloping and nutrient-poor, there is no tree more effective than raising red ants to collect resin from the host tree. As a breeder of red ant wings for decades, Mr. Binh said that raising red ant wings is both leisure and high economic efficiency. Compared with acacia trees, which are commonly grown locally, cultivating red ant wings gives economic efficiency 15 – 20 times higher. 
Red ant resin is a valuable medicinal material that is currently purchased by businesses with high prices. Photo: Vo Dung. Mr. Binh analyzed: The hills and mountains are exhausted, it is almost impossible to plant anything, there is no manpower, not much capital and time to take care of it to grow acacia. Meanwhile, compared to acacia cultivation, it doesn’t take much effort to grow host crops to raise red ant wings, and invest less … “In the past, Muong Lat people used to drop ant wings on big, tall trees, but later on they mainly raised ant wings on thieu pea trees because they were of moderate height and easy to exploit for resin,” said Mr. Binh. . According to Mr. Binh, thieu peas are leguminous plants, easy to grow, with low nutrient and water requirements and need to be replanted in 3-4 years. If planting pure palm trees as a host tree to raise red ant wings, the retention time is usually 20-30 years, but the disadvantage is that the stem is high and difficult to harvest. Currently, people still like to grow thieu pea to feed red ant wings because in addition to the advantages of low trees, easy to harvest, thieu lentils are also legumes to help improve the soil, simple care, and less pests. part of Muong Lat people plant this plant to release ant wings. Money picking, but not focused Thieu peas are locally available plants that can be propagated by seeds, so planting thieu lentils costs almost no cost in terms of seeds, and also does not need to be fertilized or taken care of. According to local people’s experience, if using thieu bean as host plant, they usually sow seeds at the beginning of the year and plant in April and to October. Red ants are also insects available in the environment. Thieu lentils themselves have “charm”, helping to attract red ant wings. 
Mr. Ha Van Huan, Zone 3, Muong Lat town, who has 500 thieu pea trees released red ants, about to reach the harvest date. Photo: Vo Dung. The adult red ants will find themselves, parasitize on the thieu pea tree. After laying eggs and hatching larvae, farmers often tie the larvae to the smallpox plants so that the red ant wings proliferate and develop evenly on the host plant and release the resin to exploit. Usually each year, farmers will have two times to exploit plastic in April and October. The product is currently signed by an enterprise in Hanoi with the price of 40 thousand VND / kg. In addition to planting thieu peas on the hillsides, on roadside land, some people raising ant wings also have the idea of planting thieu lentils on the field banks to release the ant wings. Mr. Ha Van Huan, Zone 3, Muong Lat town, who has 500 thieu lentils, has released red ants about to reach the harvest date, shared: Planting thieu peas on the field bank while taking advantage of the excess land and harvesting. are red ant wings. The leaves of the thieu pea plant fall into the field as fertilizer for the plants as well. Next time, Mr. Huan will continue to plant more thieu pea trees on the field banks to release red ant wings. In 2007, Mr. Luong Thanh Binh (Zone 3, Muong Lat town) was supported by Thanh Hoa Union of Science and Technology Associations to train and transfer techniques of raising red ants to exploit plastic. After being transferred, in addition to his family area, Mr. Binh has now developed the farming area to 50 hectares, concentrated in communes Quang Chieu, Muong Chanh, Tam Chung, Muong Ly, Muong Lat town, Nhi Son, Pu Nhi … (Muong Lat district). The current red ants growers and cultivators are mainly the H’mong and Thai ethnic groups of Muong Lat district. According to Mr. Binh, people from Quan Son and Quan Hoa districts of Thanh Hoa province and some mountainous districts of Nghe An province have also contacted him for technology transfer and seed supply. 
Growing red beans to raise red ant wings can take advantage of a lot of land funds such as village roads, rice fields, pond banks, forest edges … Photo: Vo Dung. Raising red ant wings gives high economic efficiency, but according to Mr. Binh, ethnic minorities in Muong Lat district have not really paid attention. It is a very regrettable thing when the economic conditions of the people here are still many difficulties. “Raising red ant wings is very leisurely and gives high economic efficiency, but in reality, many people still do not understand its value. The elderly and children can also raise and harvest red ants; Where the product comes out is purchased there. I really want to expand the farming area to develop the local economy and increase income for the people, ”Mr. Binh pondered. To make the harvesting of red ants resin easy, Muong Lat people often plant on low host trees with short harvesting cycle. This explains why the cultivation of red ants is not suitable in the forests if they want to green the barren hills. Mr. Mai Huu Phuc, Director of Thanh Hoa Forest Protection Department (Management Board) also said that raising red ant wings to use plastic as medicine brings high economic efficiency. In the past, the Muong Lat District Protection Forest Management Board also raised red ant wings, but mainly selected multi-purpose host trees. Therefore, when the host tree has grown, it is difficult to release and harvest the red ants, so for many years, the Management Board no longer has cultivated red ant wings. This is one of the factors that makes the red-wing farming area not being focused in Thanh Hoa. Red ant’s wing is a red resin excreted by a species of red ant leaf aphid (a member of the ant wing worm family) that sucks on the sap of its host plant. According to traditional medicine, red ant wings have a bitter taste, cold properties, have a heat effect, blood pressure, detoxification, hemostasis, peas … Currently, all the resin of ants harvested in Muong Lat district is under construction. Duc Phu Agriculture and Forestry Joint Stock Company in Hanoi buys buckets for 40 thousand VND / kg.
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